ountry within the tropics; their climate is of the
hottest kind, and consequently most suitable to the development of the
great reptiles. The indolent character of the natives, too--
half-Indian, half-Spanish--prevents them from attacking and destroying
these creatures with that energy that is exhibited by the inhabitants of
our own country. The consequence is, that the animals in their turn are
less afraid of man, and often make him their prey. The alligators of
the Magdalena--or `caimans,' as they are there called--frequently
destroy natives, who by any unlucky accident may have fallen into the
waters frequented by them. Not unfrequently the boatmen (_bogadores_)
who navigate the river Magdalena in their _bogas_, or flat boats, drop
overboard, and become the prey of the caimans, as sailors on the ocean
do of sharks. These boatmen sometimes carry rifles, for the purpose of
shooting the caimans; yet there are but few destroyed in this way, as
the bogadores are too much occupied in navigating their crafts; and,
moreover, it is a very difficult thing to kill an alligator by a shot.
You can only do it by sending the bullet into his eye, as the rest of
his body is impervious even to a musket-ball. Of course, to hit one in
the eye requires a sure aim, and a good opportunity when the animal is
lying still upon the bank or on the water. When out of the water a
caiman may be shot in the soft elastic skin behind the fore-shoulder;
but this is a very uncertain method of killing one; and several shots
fired into his body at this part will often fail to prove fatal.
Sometimes the natives of the Magdalena catch the caimans with lassos;
and after dragging them upon the bank, despatch them with axes and
spears. Notwithstanding this, the caimans swarm upon these rivers, and
are seldom molested by the inhabitants, except at intervals when some
horrid tragedy happens--when some unfortunate victim has been snatched
off by them, torn in pieces, and devoured. When this occurs, the
people, sympathising with the distress of their neighbour, awake from
their habitual apathy, collect together, and destroy great numbers of
these hideous reptiles. The story I have promised you illustrates an
affair of this kind.

"A _vaquero_ (cattle-herd) lived upon the Magdalena, some miles above
the city of New Carthagena. His palm-thatched _rancho_, or cottage,
stood at a little distance from the bank of the river, at a point where
it was much infe